Cricket Control for Ottery homes and businesses

Ottery is half residential, half working area, with factories and workshops along Ottery Road and family homes in the streets around them. Rodents from the industrial side and ants from sandy gardens keep us busy here.

Ottery: what drives crawling insects here

Ants dig into the sandy soil and invade kitchens in summer. German cockroaches are common in kitchens, and crickets come up from sandy gardens.

Homes are mostly freestanding brick houses with tiled or iron roofs and small gardens, plus townhouses and a few flats. The industrial strip has warehouses, workshops and storage yards with roller doors and open bin areas. Rodents move between yards and homes, especially where properties back onto industrial land. Backyard rooms and garages are common hiding places.

Rats and mice are the leading problem, followed by ants and German cockroaches. Flies around industrial bins and fleas in homes come up regularly. Stored product pests matter for food businesses.

How to tell you have a problem

1. Patches of grass that brown and die, and lift easily because the roots have been cut.
2. Loud chirping at night that stops as soon as you walk towards it.
3. Crickets sheltering in the garage, under appliances or behind skirting boards.
4. Birds and hadedas probing the lawn intensively, which is often a sign of mole crickets or other insects underneath.
5. Small chewed holes in clothing, curtains or paper stored in damp places.

Worth knowing

Crickets sometimes damage stored clothing, curtains and cardboard in damp outbuildings. If you use a garage or storeroom for storage, dry it out and box things in plastic.

Mole crickets are often blamed on lawn grubs or dry patches, and people keep watering a lawn that is actually being cut from below. The soap water test is a cheap way to find out.

How the treatment works

Indoors, we focus on finding where the crickets are coming in and hiding, then apply a residual treatment to entry points, door thresholds, garage edges and other hiding spots. Granular baits can be used around the perimeter of the house to reduce numbers before they reach the walls. For mole crickets, the lawn is treated with a targeted product and watered in so it reaches the tunnels, and timing matters because young mole crickets near the surface are easier to control. We use the least-toxic effective option and avoid spraying open living areas.

Want the full step-by-step? See how our cricket control service works.

Stopping a repeat visit

• Fit brush strips under exterior doors and garage doors so crickets cannot walk straight in.
• Swap bright white outside lights for yellow or warm-coloured bulbs, which attract fewer insects.
• Seal cracks in walls and around window frames, and check that airbricks have intact mesh.
• Water the lawn deeply but less often, as constantly damp soil suits mole crickets.
• Keep the garage and storeroom tidy and dry, since crickets love damp cardboard and clutter.

Pricing, honestly

The cost depends on whether it is an indoor nuisance, a lawn problem or both, and on the size of the property and garden. A large lawn with widespread mole cricket damage takes more product and time than a perimeter treatment for a house. Follow-up treatments, if needed to catch a second generation, are included in a free quote upfront.

Field crickets are loudest and most noticeable in the warm months from late spring through summer. They often move indoors in autumn as the nights cool down and the first rains arrive. Mole cricket damage to lawns shows up most in spring and summer when they are active near the surface.

Questions we get asked in Ottery

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